Easy Italian Sausage Baked Penne with 3 Cheeses. Mixing Italian sausage into the ground beef, really boosts the flavour of this comfort food, baked penne pasta.
It’s been a busy few weeks for me and my blogging has slowed down because of a backlog of work at school. Still, we are still not going hungry at our house.
This is a pretty quick and easy pasta dish that is a bit of a twist on a similar lasagne that I make. This dish is a hearty family meal or a great pot-luck dish made with ground beef, Italian sausage and a trio of cheeses.
The ground fennel in the sauce compliments the sausages nicely too.
This truly is a family favourite meal. My kids ask for it all the time.
It really is one of my favourites because it is not as labour intensive as putting together a lasagna but with all the flavour. Feel free to substitute any similar sized pasta like ziti or rigatoni.
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Easy Italian Sausage Baked Penne with 3 Cheeses
Easy Italian Sausage Baked Penne with 3 Cheeses - mixing Italian sausage into the ground beef, really boosts the flavour of this comfort food baked penne pasta.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound hot Italian sausage - use loose sausage meat or remove from casings
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 small minced red onion
- 2 large cans crushed plum tomatoes
- 1 small chopped red pepper
- 1 tsp ground fennel seed
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp fresh tarragon, optional
- 6 cups cooked penne pasta
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup fresh grated parmesan or asiago cheese
Instructions
- Combine the ground beef and sausage meat and brown in a little olive oil in a large saucepan, breaking up the meat into small pieces as it cooks.
- To the browned meat add the garlic and onions and cook for another minute until the onions just begin to soften. You can drain off any excess fat at this point.
- Add the tomatoes, red pepper, fennel, black pepper, salt, oregano and tarragon. Simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes.
- Add the cooked penne pasta. Transfer the pasta and sauce to a greased lasagne pan. Top with a mixture of the parmesan, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden
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Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1 Serves 6Amount Per Serving Calories 704Total Fat 37gSaturated Fat 15gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 21gCholesterol 134mgSodium 950mgCarbohydrates 37gFiber 3gSugar 5gProtein 54g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Shirley Furlong
Thursday 14th of October 2021
Would this freeze well? I like to cook large quantities for family get togethers but sometimes just need enough for two.
Brad
Thursday 17th of September 2020
Hi Barry... making this for dinner tonight. Question regarding “crushed plum tomatoes”. If I canot find crushed plum tomatoes would you recommend using regular crushed tomatoes, or buy whole plum tomatoes and crush them at home by hand? I was thinking of doing the later but didn’t know about the seeds in the whole tomatoes. Thanks in advance...
Joanne Mitchell
Friday 3rd of April 2009
Hi! I noticed that my website isn't appearing well just in case you want to read what I think about food being the food buff that I also am. Cheers!
jan
Thursday 2nd of April 2009
nice blogs..Thank
Mark
Wednesday 1st of April 2009
Great Site! Great Recipes! I just sent you a message from our site. Thanks for sharing.